The invention relates to a cooking vessel to receive a product to be cooked and including a vessel body having a substantially planar spill rim extending outwardly and around the vessel body. A vessel handle is attached to the vessel wall and is made of a thermal insulating material such as plastic. A cover has an essentially planar cover rim that can be set closingly on the spill rim and has at least one cover handle. The vessel body and the cover form a spill and/or ventilation appliance.
In known cooking vessels used for boiling or cooking a product to be cooked, ventilation is realized, e.g., by the fact that the cover is not set closingly on the vessel body but rather is arranged only partially on the vessel rim extending around the vessel opening in a undefined tilted position that is selected arbitrarily by the operator. This procedure has the drawback that, depending on the tilt position of the cover on the vessel body, the product to be cooked no longer continues to cook or cooks too much. Thus, the cooking time can increase in an undesired manner or the cooking liquid can boil over due to high temperature and can escape from the cooking vessel.
Following the cooking process, the remaining cooking liquid is frequently supposed to be poured out of the cooking vessel, e.g., after potatoes or vegetables have been cooked. To this end, the cover is displaced or tilted relative to the rim of the vessel opening by the user in such a manner that a spill opening is formed. Of course, it often happens that the spill opening is selected such that, when spilling liquid, the product also falls out of the cooking vessel or that the cooking liquid flows out too slowly. Furthermore, it also can happen that the cover slides completely off the vessel rim, and the entire hot product to be cooked suddenly falls out of the vessel interior. Another drawback of the known cooking vessel is the fact that to spill the cooking liquid the cover must be held tightly at the vessel rim by hand by the user or operator. Since the cooking vessel and cover become generally hot during the cooking process, there is the risk of burning oneself when pouring out the cooking liquid. Even when potholders are used, the pouring must occur very rapidly, since, on the one hand the heat is transferred through the potholders to the hand of the operator, on the other hand steam escapes from the opening region of the cooking vessel.
A device for cooking, serving, and storing food or the like is discussed in DE 33 09 534 A1. Such device comprises a vessel with an open mouth and a cover that can be set removably on the vessel and serves to close the open mouth and that has an opening formed therein. A device is provided to close the opening if the cover assumes a predetermined closing position on the open mouth of the vessel. A central cover handle is designed as one piece with the cover, and vessel handles are located at a significant distance therefrom as broadened segments of a collar extending around the open mouth. Thus, the handles absorb an undesired high temperature when the device is used for cooking. An opening is provided in a collar of the cover in order to be able to accommodate the handle of a kitchen appliance such as a spoon or a kitchen thermometer. The cover can be positioned on the vessel in such a manner that the opening is locked or that, when the cover is put on, a kitchen device can be inserted into the interior of the vessel. Steam also can escape from the interior of the vessel through the opening. The opening is neither defined nor suitable for pouring out cooking liquid.
A cooking pot with a cover is disclosed in DE 1 734 787 U1. The cover has a downwardly directed rim which fits into an upper opening of the pot. In the downwardly directed rim of the cover, there are holes that extend next to one another in a plane and that serve to pour cooking liquid in a controlled manner from the cooking pot. A discharge spout is pressed into the outer rim of the cooking pot so that the cooking liquid to be poured out through the holes can escape to the side without soiling the outer wall of the cooking pot. The cover can be rotated to such an angular position that the holes are closed by the outer pot rim. The cover is provided with a central cover knob and the cooking pot is provided with two opposing ears. In such a design the cover must be held tightly with the hands when the cooking liquid is poured off by tilting the pot, thus incurring the risk of burning oneself. In addition, the gap between the cover rim and the pot rim extends vertically so that the escaping steam directly contacts the hand of the user that reaches over the cover. When the downwardly directed cover rim and/or the upwardly directed pot rim is/are deformed, the cover can be mounted on the pot only with difficulty. If the openings in the cover rim are to have the correct size for a discharge process, the cover rim pointing vertically downward must be wide, a feature that increases the deformability of the cover rim and requirements of the material thereof even more. Furthermore, with this known cooking pot one can see only with difficulty from the top in which angular position the cover is with respect to the pot.
A cooking pot with a cover for household purposes is known from CH 309 501 C1. In such cooking pot gaps are formed between the cover and its contact surface in order to make it possible for steam to escape when cooking and pouring out water or the like with the cover on the pot. The gaps can be formed by pressing in the contact surface for the cover or by pressing in the cover rim itself. In so doing, a complete locking of the cooking pot is not even possible. Even here, when the cooking liquid is poured out, the cover must be held with the thumb of the hand itself.